Harlem Hellfighters by J. Patrick Lewis (review)

Marking the centennial of the Great War, poet Lewis uses the spare strokes of his medium to evoke the trials and triumphs of the African-American 369th Army Infantry Regiment, the Hellfighters. Central to Lewis’s narrative is bandleader Lt. James Europe, who turned his talents to writing patriotic songs and leading a military band that brought jazz to an eagerly receptive French audience. Short poems and prose pieces, arranged according to wartime chronology, appear in boxes inserted into spreads broken into blocks of illustration, creating an impressionistic take on the war. Although Lewis’ imagery is frequently evocative (“The moon took cover/in a bunker of clouds”; “Townsfolk knocked back glasses of liberation with free beer chasers”), the fusion of poetry and prose is awkward, and the segues between topics are abrupt and unfocused. Kelley’s grainy, earth-toned illustrations are outstanding, often stepping into command when the text stumbles. The troop transport that passes a ghost slave ship in the foggy Atlantic is visually arresting (though it could benefit from textual support); faces of Frenchmen swaying to “Jim Europe’s pizzazz jazz ‘Marseillaise’” are eerie puppet-like figures dancing at fin du monde; a pair of lynched black bodies bookend a bullet-torn helmet atop a rifle, contrasting the predicaments of the Hellfighters and their brothers back home. A bibliography is included, and artist’s notes on several paintings that inspired his work provide a path to further research.